Obviously Howard and Paul are going to cost the max. So pairing them with anyone wouldnt work. Howard may be worth it. Paul plays the same spot as Rondo, so I wouldnt want him for a max deal unless trading Rondo was in the plans.

If it's at all possible to trade them for expirings or younger players on shorter contracts before the trade deadline or this summer, the team should do it, in my opinion.

I think the team should operate under the assumption that it can be a contender next season, so it should avoid doing salary dumps of useful rotation players. I'd consider moving Bass and Terry for players who are better fits with contracts that expire in 2014, not this year. I would target 2014, with an option to extend it to 2015, as the summer to possibly blow things up.

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"The worst thing that ever happened in sports was sports radio, and the internet is sports radio on steroids with lower IQs.” -- Brian Burke, former Toronto Maple Leafs senior adviser, at the 2013 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

"The worst thing that ever happened in sports was sports radio, and the internet is sports radio on steroids with lower IQs.” -- Brian Burke, former Toronto Maple Leafs senior adviser, at the 2013 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

If it's at all possible to trade them for expirings or younger players on shorter contracts before the trade deadline or this summer, the team should do it, in my opinion.

I think the team should operate under the assumption that it can be a contender next season, so it should avoid doing salary dumps of useful rotation players. I'd consider moving Bass and Terry for players who are better fits with contracts that expire in 2014, not this year. I would target 2014, with an option to extend it to 2015, as the summer to possibly blow things up.

I agree, at least for this year. They may want to think about blowing things up starting this summer, but I think as long as you have KG and Paul playing well, they still have a puncher's chance of making some noise this year in the playoffs

#1 and #2 make sense. I could legitimately see KG retiring and doing the franchise a favor by forgoing his remaining salary. Waiving Pierce makes sense if KG retires.

As for Bass/Terry, I'd rather trade them for expiring contracts now, or non-guaranteed deals in the off-season, as a way of clearing their salary.

Terry shouldn't be too difficult to move despite his bad play this year. He has a proven history of being a valuable playoff contributer, and I'd imagine some "contender" out there would desire his service.

Bass, on the other hand, may be much more difficult to move. Players like him are a dime-a-dozen. using the stretch provision on him may be the only way to clear his salary.